Merlin Entertainments PLC is an English company headquartered in Poole, Dorset which operates 105 attractions, 11 hotels and 3 holiday villages in 23 countries, and on four continents. Merlin focuses on developing its theme parks into short break destinations with unique accommodation and immersive second gate attractions.

In December 1998, Nick Varney, Andrew Carr and the senior management team of Vardon Attractions completed a management buyout of the company to form Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd. with the backing of the private equity firm Apax Partners. Apax sold the company to another financial investor, Hermes Private Equity, in 2004.

When the Legoland theme parks came up for sale, Varney wanted to buy it but Hermes did not want to invest more capital and sold Merlin to Blackstone Group for about £110 million in 2005 and simultaneously. Blackstone negotiated to buy control of Legoland for about £250 million and then merged it with Merlin. Part of this deal was that the investment arm of LEGO owners KIRKBI AS, took a share in Merlin Entertainments and they remain major shareholders today. [2][not in citation given]

Under Blackstone in 2006, Merlin went on to buy Gardaland, an Italian theme park, and then early in 2007 The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds celebrity wax attractions, for £1 billion. After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital held 20% of Merlin Entertainment.[3]

On 17 July 2007, as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal, Merlin sold the freeholds of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Madame Tussauds to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement.[6] Although the attraction sites are owned by Leslau, the attractions themselves to be operated by Merlin, leasing each back on a renewable 35-year lease. Chessington World of Adventures was not included in the deal. By arranging the sale-leaseback of the properties and giving Dubai International Capital a stake in the combined entity, Merlin was able to acquire Tussauds without the need for any further capital investments from Blackstone or its other shareholders.[7]

On 28 June 2013, Merlin Australia's Madame Tussauds in Sydney placed a wax figure of the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, into a mock queue of a Centrelink office in central Sydney. Deposed by the Australian Labor Party in the evening of 26 June, and replaced by Kevin Rudd, the publicity stunt drew wide attention, but was widely condemned for the disrespect shown to the office of the Prime Minister, and the first female leader of Australia.[12]

Merlin had planned to go public in early 2010, but market turbulence postponed those plans. Instead, Blackstone sold 20% of the company to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, reducing Blackstone's holding to 34%. CVC acquired another 8% from the Dubai investment fund which is no longer involved with the company, giving it 28% in all. KIRKBI, a Danish family trust that owns LEGO, also increased its stake, emerging as the largest shareholder, with 36%. CVC paid a price that valued Merlin at £2.25 billion[13] – more than six times what Merlin and Legoland together were worth when Blackstone acquired them five years earlier. Blackstone's investment was by that point worth more than three and a half times what it had paid.[14]

On 8 November 2013 Merlin floated 30% of the company on the London Stock Exchange valuing the private equity-backed company at almost £3.4bn.[15]

Chessington World of Adventures – Theme park with 10 themed lands, over 40 rides and attractions, live shows, Zoo, Sea Life Aquarium, two hotels with swimming pool complex and spa and historic mansion. Currently celebrating the Year of the Penguins.

Gardaland – Italy's largest theme park with 32 rides, live shows, a hotel, and Sea Life Aquarium.

In October 2013 Merlin's Thorpe Park attraction was involved in controversy when mental health campaigners accused it of putting profit before the welfare of those with mental illness. Its Halloween attractions included mazes which 'draw on classic horror film content'. Sitting alongside 'The Cabin in the Woods', 'SAW Alive', 'My Bloody Valentine', 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'You're Next' was 'The Asylum' maze, complete with 'scary patients who had taken over the Asylum'. Coming just weeks after controversies involving supermarket chains Asda and Tesco[21] the attraction was contrasted unfavourably in some media, Twitter and by mental health campaigners who believed The Asylum perpetrated stigmatising and damaging images of mental illness [22][23] Thorpe Park said "No offence was ever intended, it is not nor was it ever intended to be a realistic interpretation of a mental health or any other institution. We have taken this debate extremely seriously, and will take all of the points raised into account when planning any future events for 2014."[24] It was announced in September 2014 by Thorpe Park that The Asylum will not be returning for the 2014 Fright Nights. [25]